Weekly Newsletter

Hall Of Fire Chats For November 30th/December 1st

In total, The Lord of the Rings features a long list of characters; roughly seventy speaking parts and numerous others in the periphery of things. However out of all these parts, there are only three female characters who play decisive parts in the War of the Ring; Arwen, Eowyn and Galadriel. Based on this fact alone, the Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us this weekend as we discuss one of the most discussed topics surrounding Tolkien’s work:

Gender Imbalance In The Lord Of The Rings

Tolkien has often been criticised by the modern establishment over the lack of strong female characters in his literature, particularly in The Lord of the Rings. In a climate now dominated by the importance of being ‘politcally correct’ Tolkien’s literature may look almost archaic in its presentation of women, something which even director Peter Jackson felt he needed to address by enlarging the role of Arwen in his cinematic adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

However, when addressing these issues many people forget that The Lord of the Rings was written at a time where women had barely even begun their quest for equality in society; by the standards of the 1950s, Tolkien’s trilogy was far from being offensive. Is it therefore unfair now to criticise it now? Could there be moments in the book where female roles could be enlarged while at the same time not creating a ‘XenArwen’ character? Or is the very idea of tinkering with Tolkien’s classic almost sacrilege?

Join us this weekend as we discuss one of the burning and more relavent debates surrounding J.R.R Tolkien’s award-winning epic.

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